document_title: Little Shop of Horrors (film)

question_text: what's the plants name on little shop of horrors

question_tokens: what 's the plants name on little shop of horrors

root

text: Little Shop of Horrors (film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: A three-girl "Greek chorus" – Crystal, Ronnette, and Chiffon – introduce the movie, warning the audience that some horror is coming their way ("Prologue: Little Shop of Horrors"). Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis) and his colleague, Audrey (Ellen Greene), work at Mushnik's Flower Shop in a run-down, rough neighborhood referred to as "Skid Row" in the slums of New York City. They lament that they cannot escape the neighborhood ("Skid Row" (Downtown)"). Struggling from a lack of customers, Mr. Mushnik (Vincent Gardenia) decides to close the store, but Audrey suggests he may have more success by displaying an unusual plant that Seymour owns. Immediately attracting a customer, Seymour explains he bought the plant, which he dubbed "Audrey II", from a Chinese flower shop during a solar eclipse ("Da-Doo"). Attracting business to Mushnik's shop, the plant soon starts dying, worrying Seymour. Accidentally pricking his finger, he then discovers Audrey II needs human blood to thrive ("Grow For Me").

tag: p

text: Seymour takes Audrey II and is interviewed on the radio, and Audrey misses the broadcast due to being "hand-cuffed a little" by her sadistic, mean-spirited boyfriend Orin Scrivello (Steve Martin). The three girls suggest Audrey dump Orin and get another man to protect her, like Seymour, but Audrey states she doesn't deserve a nice guy. Despite this, Audrey has feelings for Seymour and secretly dreams of running off with him to the suburbs ("Somewhere That's Green"). Audrey II continues to grow rapidly and Seymour becomes a local celebrity ("Some Fun Now"). Seymour soon attempts to ask Audrey out, but she turns him down because she has a date with her boyfriend, revealed to be a dentist ("Dentist!"). After Seymour closes up shop, Audrey II begins to talk to Seymour, demanding more blood than Seymour can give. The plant proposes that Seymour murder someone in exchange for fame and fortune: Seymour initially refuses, but agrees after witnessing Orin beating Audrey ("Feed Me (Get It)").

text: After Orin finishes with his masochistic patient, Arthur Denton (Bill Murray), who requested "a long, slow, root canal", Seymour books an appointment with Orin and arms himself with a revolver; however, he cannot bring himself to use it. Orin, who abuses nitrous oxide, puts on a type of venturi mask to receive a constant flow of the gas. Accidentally breaking an intake valve and unable to remove the mask, Orin begs Seymour for help removing it, but Seymour does nothing. When Orin asks Seymour what he ever did to him, Seymour coldly replies, "Nothing, it's what you did to her." Orin dies from asphyxiation and Seymour drags his body back to Audrey II. While dismembering the body to feed to the plant, Seymour is unknowingly witnessed by Mushnik, who flees in fear.

text: After feeding Orin's parts to Audrey II, which has grown to enormous size, Seymour discovers the police investigating Orin's disappearance. Audrey, feeling guilty about wishing Orin would disappear, is comforted by Seymour and the two admit their feelings for each other ("Suddenly, Seymour"). That night, Mushnik confronts Seymour about what he saw and holds Seymour at gunpoint, threatening to report him to the police. Mushnik then changes his mind, saying that since Seymour was "like a son" to him, he'll allow Seymour to leave town, leaving the plant to Mushnik. With no choice, Seymour steadily backs him towards the plant, which swallows Mushnik whole ("Suppertime").

text: Despite widespread success, Seymour worries about Audrey II's growth and unbridled appetite ("The Meek Shall Inherit"). Offered money and a contract for a botany TV show, Seymour plans to escape Skid Row with Audrey using the money, leaving the plant to starve. After Audrey accepts Seymour's marriage proposal, Audrey II catches Seymour leaving and demands another meal: Seymour agrees, but insists on meat from a butcher. While Seymour is gone, the plant telephones Audrey, coaxes her into the shop, and then tries to eat her. Seymour, returning in time to save Audrey, escapes the store with her. Explaining that he fed the plant to become successful and win Audrey's heart, Seymour discovers she has always loved him. Approached by an executive from a botanical company named Patrick Martin (James Belushi), Seymour is offered a contract to breed Audrey II and sell the saplings worldwide. Horrified by the idea, Seymour drives Martin away, and realizes he must destroy Audrey II for the sake of humanity.

text: Returning to the shop, Seymour learns that Audrey II is actually an alien from outer space ("Mean Green Mother from Outer Space"). Audrey II traps Seymour and destroys the shop, but Seymour grabs an exposed electrical cable and electrocutes Audrey II. Leaving the destroyed shop, Seymour safely reunites with Audrey. The two wed and move to the suburbs: arriving at their new home, which is the one seen in Audrey's daydreams, a smiling Audrey II bud can be seen among the flowers in their front yard.

text: Original ending[edit]

text: During production, director Oz shot a 23-minute ending based on the off-Broadway musical's ending. However, after audiences at the preview screenings did not react positively to it, the ending had to be rewritten and re-shot for the theatrical release with a "happier ending."[3] The changes also comprised re-edits to many scenes, amounting to a lighter tonal shift throughout the whole movie in order to appease test audiences and accommodate the new ending. These were either moments foreshadowing the original ending or establishing the tragic karma of the characters; most notably in the darker editing of the scenes in which Seymour feeds Orin and Mushnik to the plant and the alternative dialogue between Seymour and Audrey before a cut "Suddenly Seymour" reprise.[4] [5]

text: In the original ending, when Audrey is attacked by the plant, Seymour pulls her from its jaws but is too late to save her, as she is mortally wounded. As she is dying she tells him what the plant said about Orin and Mushnik, and then Seymour confesses that he fed them to the plant. Audrey requests that Seymour feed her to the plant too, so that it will live and Seymour can earn the success he deserves ("Somewhere That's Green (Reprise)"). After fulfilling her dying wish, he attempts suicide by jumping off the roof of a building, only to be stopped by Patrick Martin. Martin offers to reproduce and sell Audrey IIs, and has already grown a smaller Audrey II from one of the clippings that he harvested earlier. He also warns Seymour that his consent isn't necessary, as plants are considered to be in the public domain. Realizing Audrey II is planning global domination, Seymour climbs down from the roof with the resolution to destroy the plant. Returning to the shop, he confronts and tries to kill Audrey II, who tears down the shop, fishes him from the rubble and eats him alive. The plant then spits out Seymour's glasses and laughs victoriously ("Mean Green Mother from Outer Space)".

text: The three chorus girls appear in front of a large American flag and tell how although Audrey II buds became a worldwide consumer craze, the buds grew into an army of monstrous plants who begin to take over the Earth.[6] Giant Audrey II plants are shown destroying cities, toppling buildings, as well as eating people. The United States Army attempts to fight the buds as they ascend the Statue of Liberty and Audrey II eventually bursts through the movie screen ("Finale (Don't Feed The Plants)").

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Rick Moranis as Seymour Krelborn, a nerdy florist who loves "strange and interesting" plants. He is nice and well-intentioned, but is easily influenced: the plant, Audrey II, tricks him into feeding it humans.
Ellen Greene as Audrey, a kind, shy, friendly, and awkward coworker who is the object of Seymour's affections, but who is dating the sadistic Orin Scrivello.
Vincent Gardenia as Mr. Mushnik, the grumpy, stingy owner of Mushnik's Flower Shop.
Steve Martin as Orin Scrivello, DDS, a sadistic, nitrous oxide-addicted dentist and Audrey's violent, abusive boyfriend.
Levi Stubbs as the voice of Audrey II, an evil and boisterous flytrap-like extraterrestrial plant with plans to take over the planet.
Tichina Arnold, Michelle Weeks, and Tisha Campbell as Crystal, Ronette, and Chiffon, the three mysterious girls who act as a Greek chorus and often provide back-up to the songs throughout the film.
James Belushi as Patrick Martin, a Licensing and Marketing executive from World Botanical Enterprises who offers Seymour a proposal to sell Audrey IIs worldwide. Belushi appears in the theatrical release after re-shoots, as actor Paul Dooley (who played Martin in the original ending) was unavailable to reprise his scenes.
John Candy as Wink Wilkinson, the DJ for WSKID who puts on a radio show about "weird stuff" called "Wink Wilkinson's Weird World".
Christopher Guest as The First Customer, the first customer to enter the flower shop and notice Audrey II.
Bill Murray as Arthur Denton, a hyperactive masochist who visits Orin the dentist for "a long, slow root canal."
Miriam Margolyes as a Dental Nurse, Orin's cynical nurse/secretary who Orin frequently appears to enjoy hurting.
Stanley Jones as the Narrator, whose voice is heard reading the opening words.
Mak Wilson, Danny John-Jules, Danny Cunningham, Gary Palmer, and Paul Swaby as the doo-wop backup singers.
Jim Henson's daughter Heather Henson cameos as one of Orin's patients.
Vincent Wong as the Chinese Florist
Kerry Shale as 'Life' Magazine assistant
Audrey II was operated by John Alexander, Anthony Asbury, Don Austen, David Barclay, Michael Barclay, James Barton, Michael Bayliss, Marcus Clarke, Sue Dacre, Graham Fletcher, Brian Henson, Terry Lee, Christopher Leith, Toby Philpott, Mike Quinn, Paul Springer, William Todd-Jones, Ian Tregonnian, Robert Tygner, and Mak Wilson.

tag: ul

text: Musical numbers[edit]

text:
"Prologue: Little Shop of Horrors"– Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
"Skid Row (Downtown)"– Seymour, Audrey, Mushnik, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal, Company
"Da-Doo"– Seymour, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
"Grow for Me"– Seymour, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal (off-screen)
"Somewhere That's Green"– Audrey
"Some Fun Now"– Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
"Dentist!"– Orin, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
"Feed Me (Git It)"– Audrey II, Seymour
"Suddenly, Seymour"– Seymour, Audrey, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
"Suppertime"– Audrey II, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
"The Meek Shall Inherit"– Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal, Company
"Suppertime (Reprise)"– Audrey II, Audrey, Chiffon, Ronette and Crystal (off screen)
"Suddenly, Seymour (Reprise)"– Audrey, Seymour
"Mean Green Mother from Outer Space"– Audrey II, the Pods
"Little Shop of Horrors medley" (end credits)– Company

tag: ol

text:
"Somewhere That's Green (Reprise)"– Audrey, Seymour
"Mean Green Mother from Outer Space"– Audrey II, the Pods
"Finale (Don't Feed the Plants)"– Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal, Company

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: David Geffen was one of the original producers of the off-Broadway show and he began planning to produce a feature film adaptation. He originally wanted Steven Spielberg to executive produce the film and Martin Scorsese to direct. Scorsese wanted to shoot the film in 3-D, but plans fell through and Scorsese's first 3-D film would be Hugo 25 years later.[citation needed] John Landis was also attached to the project for a time. [7]

text: Geffen then offered the film to Frank Oz, who was finishing work on The Muppets Take Manhattan around the same time. Oz initially rejected it, but he later had an idea that got him into the cinematic aspect of the project, which he did not figure out before. Oz spent a month and a half to restructure the script which he felt was stage-bound. Geffen and Ashman liked what he had written and decided to go with what he did. Oz was also studying the Off-Broadway show and how it was thematically constructed, all in order to reconstruct it for a feature film.[3]

text: The film differs only slightly from the stage play. The title song is expanded to include an additional verse to allow for more opening credits.[citation needed] The song "Ya Never Know" was re-written into a calypso-style song called "Some Fun Now", although some of the lyrics were retained.[citation needed] Four other songs ("Closed for Renovation", "Mushnik and Son", "Now (It's Just the Gas)", as well as "Call Back in the Morning") were cut from the original production score. An original song written by Ashman and Menken, "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space", was created for the film.

text: Casting[edit]

text: Greene was not the first choice for the role of Audrey. The studio wanted Cyndi Lauper, who turned it down. Barbra Streisand was also rumored to have been offered the part. Since Greene was the original off-Broadway Audrey, the role was given to her. "She's amazing", Oz said. "I couldn't imagine any other Audrey, really. She nailed that part for years off-Broadway."[3] The character of the masochistic dental patient, Arthur Denton, played in the original film by Jack Nicholson under the name "Wilbur Force," and cut from the stage version, was added back to the story and played by Bill Murray, who improvised all of his dialogue. It supposedly took Steve Martin six weeks to film all his scenes as Orin. He contributed ideas such as socking the nurse in the face (originally he was to knock her out using his gas mask) and ripping off the doll head.

text: Filming[edit]

text: All the scenes were filmed at Pinewood Studios in England, making use of every sound stage there, including the 007 Stage. Oz and his crew did not want to shoot on location as it would tamper with the fantastical mood of the film. Part of the giant 007 stage was used to film the 'Suddenly Seymour' number. But because of its size, the stage was impractical to heat properly and thus caused breath condensation to appear from the actor's lips. This was countered by having Ellen Greene and Rick Moranis put ice cubes in their mouths. This would be the first time Moranis and Martin starred in a film together and as they would later appear together in three more films: Parenthood, My Blue Heaven and L.A. Story.

text: As mentioned, additional sequences and songs from the original off-Broadway show were dropped or re-written in order for the feature version to be paced well. The notable change was for the "Meek Shall Inherit" sequence. As originally filmed, it detailed through a dream sequence Seymour's rising success and the need to keep the plant fed and impress Audrey. In the final cut, the dream sequence and much of the song is cut out. Oz said, "I cut that because I felt it just didn't work and that was before the first preview in San Jose. It was the right choice, it didn't really add value to the entire cut."[3] The full version of the song was included on the film's soundtrack album, as were the songs from the original ending. The sequence was deemed to be lost until in 2012 when it was rediscovered on a VHS workprint that contained alternate and extended takes and sequences.[8]

text: Operating the plant[edit]

text: The film's version of Audrey II was an extremely elaborate creation, using puppets designed by Lyle Conway.

text: While developing the mouth of the plant for the dialogue scenes and musical numbers, Oz, Conway and his crew were struggling to figure out how to make the plant move convincingly. "We kept trying and trying and it didn't work."[9] The solution presented itself while reviewing test footage of the puppet. When the film was run backwards or forward at a faster than normal speed, the footage looked much more convincing and lifelike. They realized they could film the puppet at a slower speed, making it appear to move faster when played back at normal speed. "By slowing it down it looked it was talking real fast. We then went 'holy cow, look at that. We can do it.'"[9] The frame rate for filming the plant was slowed to 12 or 16 frames per second, depending on the scene, and frequent screen cuts were used to minimize the amount of screen time the puppet spent with human actors, and when interaction was totally necessary, the actors (usually Moranis) would pantomime and lip sync in slow motion.[9] The film was then sped up to the normal 24 frames per second and voices were reinserted in post-production. Levi Stubbs' recordings were run through a harmonizer when slowed down so that they were coherent for Moranis or Ellen Greene.

text: There are no blue screens or opticals involved in any of Audrey II's scenes, with the exception of the reshot ending where the plant is electrocuted, designed by Visual Effects supervisor Bran Ferren, and in some shots during the rampage in the original ending. The plant was made in six different stages of growth and there were three different versions of Mushnik's shop, making it possible for two units to work with different sized plants at the same time. Each of the talking plants had to be cleaned, re-painted and patched up at the end of each shooting day, which would take up to three hours depending on the size. The "Suppertime" number uses two different sizes of Audrey II. When the plant is singing all alone in the shop, it is actually a smaller size: the same size as when it sang "Feed Me", but now standing on a scaled down set to make it look larger. The full size one that is seen to interact with Seymour and Mushnik was not provided with lip movement, but was built to swallow Mushnik's (mechanical) legs. During Audrey II's final stage of growth, 60 technicians were necessary to operate the one-ton puppet.[10]

text: The finale[edit]

text: Oz and Ashman wanted to retain the ending of the musical where Seymour and Audrey die and the plant succeeds and takes over the city of New York, but Geffen was actually against it. "He said you can't do that," Oz recounts. "But again he knew what Howard and I wanted to do, so he supported us."[3] A special effects team skilled in working with miniatures, and Special Visual Effects team, went to great lengths to create the finale. The model department was supervised by Richard Conway, known for his model work on Flash Gordon and Brazil. "It was all model stuff, that was the brilliant thing. He created the bridge, the buildings, several Audrey IIs and created all of it, all on tabletop. It's all old-fashioned, tabletop animation"[3] [although no stop motion animation was used in the film or in the ending]. The Visual Effects work was supervised by Bran Ferren (Altered States).

text: Reportedly the entire planned climax cost about $5 million to produce, and included elaborate special and visual effects.[citation needed] Oz said in an interview, "this was, I think, the most expensive film Warner Bros. had done at the time."[3] As the film was nearing completion, the excited studio set up a test screening in San Jose. Oz said, "For every musical number, there was applause, they loved it, it was just fantastic... until Rick and Ellen died, and then the theatre became a refrigerator, an ice box. It was awful and the cards were just awful. You have to have a 55 percent "recommend" to really be released and we got a 13. It was a complete disaster." Oz insisted on setting another test screening in L.A. to see if they would get a different reaction. Geffen agreed to this, but they received the same negative reaction as before.[3] Oz later recounted, "I learned a lesson: in a stage play, you kill the leads and they come out for a bow — in a movie, they don't come out for a bow, they're dead. They're gone and so the audience lost the people they loved, as opposed to the theater audience where they knew the two people who played Audrey and Seymour were still alive. They loved those people, and they hated us for it."[11]

text: Oz and Ashman scrapped Audrey and Seymour's grim deaths and the finale rampage, and Ashman rewrote a happier ending, with James Belushi replacing Paul Dooley (who was unavailable for the re-shoot) as Patrick Martin. The musical number "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space" was left mostly intact from the original cut, with new shots of Audrey observing from a window added in. A brief sequence from the "Mean Green Mother" number was also removed in which Seymour fires his revolver at Audrey II, only to discover that the bullets ricochet harmlessly off of the plant. In the happy ending, Audrey II is destroyed and Seymour, Audrey, and humanity survive. This happy ending is made somewhat ambiguous, however, with a final shot of a smiling Audrey II bud in Seymour and Audrey's front yard. Tisha Campbell was unavailable for the final appearance of the chorus girls in the yard and was replaced with a lookalike seen only from the waist down.[9]

text: "We had to do it," Oz recounted. "[and do it] in such a manner that the audience would enjoy the movie. It was very dissatisfying for both of us that we couldn't do what we wanted. So creatively, no, it didn't satisfy us and being true to the story. But we also understood the realities that they couldn't release the movie if we had that ending."[3] "We had to take [the workprint] apart, and we never made a dupe of [the original ending]." At the time, the only copies of it that were made to be viewed were VHS workprint tapes given to few crew members.[12] The scene in which Seymour proposes to Audrey originally contained the reprise of "Suddenly, Seymour". This scene was re-shot and the reprise was placed later in the new ending.[9] In the final theatrical cut, the only miniatures that are retained are the New York City streets passing behind Steve Martin's motorcycle ride at the beginning of "Dentist!"[9] "When we did re-shoot the ending, the crowd reaction went over 50 percent in our favor. Before it was a point where they hated it so much, Warner probably wouldn't even release the movie," Oz said.[12]

text: Release[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Little Shop of Horrors, after a delay needed to complete the revised ending, was released on December 19, 1986 and was anticipated to do strong business over the 1986 holiday season.[13] The film grossed $38 million at the box office,[14] which, from the view point of the studio, was considered an underperformer. However, it became a smash hit upon its home video release in 1987 on VHS and Beta.

text: Critical reception[edit]

text: Rotten Tomatoes retrospectively collected reviews to give it a score of 90% based on reviews from 48 critics, the general consensus states: "Remixing Roger Corman's B-movie by way of the Off-Broadway musical, Little Shop of Horrors offers camp, horror and catchy tunes in equal measure — plus some inspired cameos by the likes of Steve Martin and Bill Murray."[15] On Metacritic, which uses an average of critics' reviews, the film has an 81% rating based on 15 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim" (14 positive reviews, 1 mixed, and no negative).[16] Richard Corliss of Time magazine said, "You can try not liking this adaptation of the Off-Broadway musical hit -- it has no polish and a pushy way with a gag -- but the movie sneaks up on you, about as subtly as Audrey II."[17]

text: In The New York Times, Janet Maslin called it "a full-blown movie musical, and quite a winning one".[18] Roger Ebert said in his review: "All of the wonders of Little Shop of Horrors are accomplished with an offhand, casual charm. This is the kind of movie that cults are made of, and after Little Shop finishes its first run, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it develop as one of those movies that fans want to include in their lives".[19] Oz's friend and Muppet colleague Jim Henson praised the film and said "the lip sync on the plant in that film is just absolutely amazing".[12]

text: Accolades[edit]

text: The film was also nominated for two Academy Awards, one for Best Visual Effects (Lyle Conway, Bran Ferren, Martin Gutteridge), the other for Best Original Song (Alan Menken, Howard Ashman) for Audrey II's new number, "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space". "Mean Green" was the first Oscar-nominated song to contain profanity in the lyrics and thus had to be slightly censored for the show. It's also the first of only two songs sung by a villain to be nominated, the other being "Blame Canada" from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. It lost to "Take My Breath Away" from Top Gun. It was also nominated for Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical (it lost to Hannah and Her Sisters) and Best Original Score (Miles Goodman) during the 44th Golden Globe Awards. The Score went to Ennio Morricone for The Mission.

text: Home media[edit]

text: Little Shop of Horrors was the first DVD to be recalled for content.[6] In 1998, Warner Bros. released a special edition DVD that contained approximately 23 minutes of unfinished footage from Oz's original ending, although it was in black and white and was missing some sound, visual, and special effects.[citation needed] Producer and rights owner David Geffen was not aware of this release until it made it to the stores. Geffen said, "They put out a black-and-white, un-scored, un-dubbed video copy of the original ending that looked like shit." As a result, the studio removed it from shelves in a matter of days and replaced it with a second edition that did not contain the extra material. Geffen wanted to re-release the film to theaters with the original ending intact.[20] Geffen also claimed to have a color copy of the original ending, while the studio had lower quality, black and white duplicates as their own color print was destroyed in a studio fire years earlier. But Geffen had not known, until after the DVD was pulled, that the studio did not know there was no colored copy of the original ending in existence.[3]

text: In November 2011, Oz held a Q&A session at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens during a Henson themed exhibit. During the talk, he announced that the film would be released as a new special edition with the original ending restored.[21] Warner Bros. reconstructed and restored the ending in an alternate edit, with re-discovered color negatives of the sequence and the help of production notes from Frank Oz and others on the film's creative team. It was released on Blu-ray and DVD on October 9, 2012 with features returning from the original DVD.[22] It was initially subtitled as "The Intended Cut",[23] but changed to "The Director's Cut" once Oz began to support the release. The new edit was screened at the 50th New York Film Festival in the "Masterwork" line-up on September 29, 2012, alongside titles such as Laurence Olivier's Richard III and Heaven's Gate.[24] Frank Oz worried that the audience would give a negative reaction at the 2012 screening, however, "the audience accepted Audrey and Seymour's deaths with applause and roared in glee during the plant rampage," says Oz.


document_title: The Addams Family (1964 TV series)

question_text: what is the dads name in the adams family

text: The Addams Family (1964 TV series)

text: Premise[edit]

text: The Addamses are a close-knit extended family with decidedly macabre interests and supernatural abilities. No explanation for their powers is explicitly given in the series.

text: The very wealthy, endlessly enthusiastic Gomez Addams (John Astin) is madly in love with his refined wife, Morticia, née Frump (Carolyn Jones). Along with their daughter Wednesday (Lisa Loring), their son Pugsley (Ken Weatherwax), Uncle Fester (Jackie Coogan), and Grandma (Blossom Rock), they reside at 0001 Cemetery Lane in an ornate, gloomy, Second Empire-style mansion, attended by their servants: Lurch (Ted Cassidy), the towering butler, and Thing (billed as "Itself" but actually portrayed by Cassidy and occasionally by Jack Voglin when Lurch and Thing appear in the same scene), a disembodied hand that usually appears out of a small wooden box. Occasionally, episodes would include other relatives such as Cousin Itt (Felix Silla), Morticia's older sister Ophelia (also portrayed by Carolyn Jones), or Grandma Frump, Morticia's mother (Margaret Hamilton).

text: Much of the humor derives from their culture clash with the rest of the world. They invariably treat normal visitors with great warmth and courtesy, though some of their guests often have bad intentions. They are puzzled by the horrified reactions to their own good-natured and normal behavior, since the family is under the impression that their tastes are shared by most of society. Accordingly, they view "conventional" tastes with generally tolerant suspicion. For example, Fester once cites a neighboring family's meticulously maintained petunia patches as evidence that they are "nothing but riffraff". A recurring theme in the epilogue of many episodes was the Addamses getting an update on the most-recent visitor to their home, either via mail, something in the newspaper, or a phone call. Invariably, as a result of their visit to the Addamses, the visitor would be institutionalized, change professions, move out of the country, or suffer some other negative life-changing event. The Addamses would always misinterpret the update and see it as good news for their most-recent visitor.

text: The tone was set by series producer Nat Perrin, who was a close friend of Groucho Marx and writer of several Marx Brothers films. Perrin created story ideas, directed one episode, and rewrote every script. As a result, Gomez, with his sardonic remarks, backwards logic, black mustache and ever-present cigar (pulled from his breast pocket already lit), is comparable to Groucho Marx. The series often employed the same type of zany satire and screwball humor seen in the Marx Brothers films. It lampooned politics ("Gomez, The Politician" and "Gomez, The People's Choice"), the legal system ("The Addams Family in Court"), rock n' roll and Beatlemania ("Lurch, The Teenage Idol"), and Hollywood ("My Fair Cousin Itt").

text: Theme[edit]

text: The show's memorable theme song, written and arranged by longtime Hollywood composer Vic Mizzy, was dominated by a harpsichord and finger snaps as percussive accompaniment. Actor Ted Cassidy, in his "Lurch" voice, punctuated the lyrics with words like neat, sweet, and petite. Mizzy's theme was popular enough to enjoy a release as a 45 rpm single, though it failed to make the national charts. The song was revived for the 1990s animated series, as well as in 2007 for a series of Addams Family television commercials for M&M's candies.

text: Characters[edit]

text: Addams Family[edit]

text:
Morticia Addams (portayed by Carolyn Jones) – Morticia A. Addams (née Frump) is a cultivated and beautiful woman who dabbles in art, plays the shamisen, raises man-eating plants, and trims her roses by clipping off the buds and arranging the thorny stems in a vase ("Oh, the thorns are lovely this year"). She can light candles with her fingertips and emit smoke directly from her person. Always attired in a long, black, very tight, V-neck dress, she minces about her home with the dress's bizarre hem, resembling octopus arms, gyrating and dragging across the floor with her every step. She wears little jewelry, only a simple necklace with a large cut stone and a ring with a huge black gem set on an ornate, hinged compartment. That compartment usually holds cyanide powder but sometimes saccharine (as the powder is identified in the episode "Morticia Joins the Ladies League"). She uses the ring's contents to flavor her hemlock, wolfsbane, and henbane teas or offers doses in like refreshments served to house guests. With her aristocratic bearing and detachment, she is often the calm center of the chaotic events of the household.
Gomez Addams (portrayed by John Astin) – Gomez is passionately in love with his wife, often referring to her in Spanish as "Querida" and "Cara Mía". His ardor is greatly intensified when she speaks French (a quirk that first appears in the eleventh episode, "The Addams Family Meet the V.I.P.s"). Before that his ardor was aroused when she called him "Bubbeleh", a German-Bavarian and Yiddish [3][4] word meaning "darling" or "sweetie". Gomez is very wealthy as a result of owning numerous companies and stocks (in a pre-debut promotional spot, Gomez tells an interviewer that the family is independently wealthy, having "made a killing in the stock market, back in 1929" (a reference to the famous Wall Street Crash of 1929). He does not seem to regard money itself as a priority and squanders money in a cavalier manner while remaining wealthy. Gomez spends a great deal of time with his family and does not go out to work. Even at home he consistently dresses in a dark, double-breasted, loud pin-striped suit and a black tie. He keeps a pair of thick-lensed reading glasses (pince-nez) on a black fabric lanyard in his coat's left inside breast pocket. In the outer breast pocket, he stores lit cigars and a watch linked to a long gold chain that is attached to the coat's left lapel. Occasionally, when his family ventures outdoors at night to frolic in the nearby swamp or to "moon bathe" in their home's front yard, Gomez does change his clothing. He either dons safari outfits or wears a horizontal striped full-torso swimsuit, the antique type once worn by men in the 1890s and early 1900s. With regard to his personal genealogy, he refers to Spain as his "ancestral home" with his family background referenced as "Castilian", and at times he uses Spanish words and phrases. Gomez can perform rapid and complicated calculations in his head. He is remarkably acrobatic and can easily dismount from a trampoline or from a hanging position upon a chandelier. One of his hobbies is Zen-Yogi, apparently a weird blend of acrobatics and yoga. Another hobby consists of gleefully dynamiting model trains as they are about to collide with each other, by using a hand detonator. In "The Addams Family in Court," episode, it is revealed that Gomez works as a lawyer who has yet to win a case in his career.
Uncle Fester (portrayed by Jackie Coogan) – Uncle Fester is Morticia's exuberant, kind, and "electric" uncle. Completely bald and invariably attired in a plain floor-length coat with a wide fur-trimmed collar, Fester is quite fond of toying with dynamite and blasting caps and often relaxes or treats ailments in the family's "play room" by reclining on a bed of nails, inserting his head into a large book press, or being bound with ropes and stretched on a wooden torture rack. Fester has the ability to power electric light bulbs by placing them in his mouth. When angered by outsiders, he may grab for a blunderbuss and announce that he will shoot the offender in the back only for Gomez and Morticia to keep him from doing so. He is occasionally seen munching on Prickly Pear cactus leaves.
Lurch (portrayed by Ted Cassidy) – Lurch is the household butler. Morticia and Gomez summon him by means of a bell pull in the form of a hangman's noose, which rings the massive bell located in the mansion's bell tower (the resulting gong shakes the entire house when the noose is pulled). When Lurch appears (usually immediately thereafter), he responds in a very deep bass voice, "You rang?" When questions are posed to Lurch his primary response is a deep annoyed grunt wagging his head, from which the family glean complex meanings. He is superhumanly strong and often plays the harpsichord (the music is actually played by The Addams Family composer Vic Mizzy) which had previously been owned by Cousin Crimp. Lurch is very high-minded about visitors. When an undercover operative named Mr. Hollister (played by George Neise) visited the family, Lurch patted him down and regarded him suspiciously when he found his gun. Mr. Hollister showed Lurch his badge, whereupon Lurch returned the gun. Also, when announcing the arrival of visitors in the foyer of the Addams' home, the towering servant invariably grabs and crushes any hats being worn by male guests in his attempts to care for them. Lurch at times regards his employers' activities with some dubiousness much like a servant expressing disdain for the idle rich; and on those occasions when he feels overworked or stressed, he, like Uncle Fester, seeks therapeutic relief by being stretched on the family's torture rack. Ted Cassidy made a cameo appearance as Lurch on an episode of the Batman TV series, and on TV music shows while promoting the pop song of the era "The Lurch" (and the dance which it accompanied).
Grandmama Addams (portrayed by Blossom Rock) – The mother of Gomez. She is a witch who conjures up potions, spells and hexes. She also dabbles in painting, playing the bagpipes, and fortune-telling, though with respect to the last, she is a charlatan. Her given name is thought to be Esmeralda, but is only addressed as that name by Hester "Franny" Frump.
Wednesday Friday Addams (played by Lisa Loring) – Gomez and Morticia's daughter. She is the youngest member (six years old) of the family, she is a strange yet sweet-natured little girl who pursues such hobbies as raising spiders, beheading dolls (called "Marie Antoinette," "Mary Queen of Scots," and "Little Red Riding Hood"), and practicing ballet in a black tutu. Her favorite pet is a black widow spider named Homer, although she also has a lizard named Lucifer. She is strong enough to bring her father to his knees in a judo hold.
Pugsley Addams (portrayed by Ken Weatherwax) – Gomez and Morticia's son and Wednesday's older brother. Kind-hearted and smart, occasionally conforming to "conventional" standards contrary to his family, he nevertheless shares a close bond with his parents and sister, the latter whom he often plays with. He also enjoys engineering various machines (sometimes with Gomez), playing with blasting caps, and his pet octopus Aristotle. Despite his pudginess, Pugsley is, like his father, exceptionally agile, able to outclimb a gorilla and hang from branches by his teeth.
Thing T. Thing – A disembodied hand that appears out of boxes and other conveniently placed containers. Gomez's constant "companion" since Gomez's childhood, Thing is always ready to assist family members with minor daily services and diversions, such as lifting the receiver on telephones, retrieving the mail, lighting cigars, pouring tea, and playing chess. Thing apparently has the ability to teleport from container to container, almost instantly: Thing sometimes appears from different containers at opposite ends of the room within seconds of each other. Though Ted Cassidy would often portray Thing, assistant director Jack Voglin would sometimes portray Thing in scenes where Lurch and Thing appear together. In all cases, the hand which portrayed Thing went uncredited, with its actor always being listed as "Itself" in the credits.

text: Recurring characters[edit]

text:
Cousin Itt (portrayed by Felix Silla in most episodes, Roger Arroyo for two episodes) – Gomez's cousin. Cousin Itt is a short character completely hidden by his almost head-to-floor-long hair. He usually wears only a derby, a pair of sunglasses, and gloves; and he speaks in rapid unintelligible gibberish, which the family has no difficulty understanding (according to Felix Silla's commentary on the DVD release, Cousin Itt's voice was recorded post-production by crew member Tony Magro). Gomez once asks him what is under all the hair. Itt answers "Roots." In one episode, Itt is said to have "the eye of an eagle ... plus a few of his own." Nevertheless, he wears conventional sunglasses, supposedly so people will not pester him for autographs.
Ophelia Frump (portrayed by Carolyn Jones) – Morticia's sister who is the "white sheep of the Family." Gomez was originally engaged to her in an arranged marriage, but when he saw 22-year-old Morticia (dressed in a grown-up version of Wednesday's clothing), he was smitten and fell in love with her. When she spoke French, he claimed that for the first time in his life, his sinuses were cleared and his bronchitis was gone. Ophelia was played by Carolyn Jones in a blonde wig (a staple of 1960s sitcom twins). One quirk of Ophelia's is that the flower growing in her hair had roots that traveled down into her foot which was raised when one of the flowers was pulled on. When she sings, her voice is in three-part harmony. She also has a love of judo with which she can hurl men (usually Gomez) several feet. She was occasionally seen in Charles Addams's original cartoons, recognizable by the flowers in her hair.
Grandma Hester "Franny" Frump (portayed by Margaret Hamilton) – The mother of Morticia and Ophelia.
Arthur J. Henson (played by Parley Baer) – Arthur Henson is an insurance executive in the town where the Addams Family resides. In "Progress and the Addams Family," he became the City Commissioner. In "Gomez, the People's Choice," he competes against Gomez to become the town's new mayor. He supervises a charity auction in "Morticia's Favorite Charity."
Joe Digby (portrayed by Eddie Quillan) – An insurance clerk who works for Arthur Henson.
Sam L. Hilliard (portrayed by Allyn Joslyn) – A truant officer who is scared to death of the Addams Family. He ran for city council in the episode "Gomez the Politician." In the same episode, his middle name is given as "Lucifer" much to the family's delight (Sam Hill is an older American euphemism for Satan). He later became headmaster of a private school that Gomez subsequently buys in "Addams Cum Laude".
Mr. Briggs (portrayed by Rolfe Sedan) – A postman who delivers the mail to the Addams Family. The movie Addams Family Reunion opens with a mailman who may be Mr. Briggs nervously delivering mail to the family.
Sam Picasso (portrayed by Vito Scotti) – An artist from Spain whom Addams Family members rely on for artistic advice.

text: Addams Family pets[edit]

text:
Aristotle – Pugsley's pet octopus.
Fang – Pugsley's pet jaguar.
Cleopatra – Morticia's pet African Strangler (a type of man-eating plant).
Kitty Kat – The Addams Family's pet lion. In "The Addams Family Tree," it is mentioned by Gomez that Kitty "can't stand the taste of people."
Tristan and Isolde – The Addams Family's pet piranhas.
Homer – Wednesday's pet spider.
Zelda – The family's pet vulture.

text: Broadcast history[edit]

text: For both seasons, episodes aired Friday nights at 8:30 p.m.

text: Syndication[edit]

text: The Addams Family airs on the This TV network Saturday and Sunday mornings between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m., and Sundays between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.

text: As well as the United States, the show has been aired worldwide. In the United Kingdom, it first aired on ITV in 1965–1966, and then it appeared on Sky 1 in 1991 and ran until 1992. and then it was aired on BBC Two from 6 p.m. on Monday nights starting in February 1992 until the end of 1993 and then moved to Saturdays in 1994 and later in school summer holidays before it vanished at the end of August 1996.

text: Since October 2011, the series was picked up by Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang and runs through the entire month of October for Halloween alongside The Munsters.

text: The series airs on select local stations,[5] and as of November 2013 airs weekends on the national movie/classic TV network This TV[6]

text: Reunions, sequels and adaptations[edit]

text: A reunion TV film, Halloween with the New Addams Family, aired on NBC in October 1977 and starred most of the original cast, except for Blossom Rock (Grandmama) who was very ill at the time and was replaced by Phyllis actress Jane Rose. Elvia Allman portrayed Grandma Hester "Franny" Frump, whom Margaret Hamilton had played in the original series. Veteran character actors Parley Baer and Vito Scotti, who both had recurring roles in the original series, also appeared in the movie. The film also included extended family members created specifically for this production, such as Gomez's brother Pancho (played by Henry Darrow) and two additional children, Wednesday Jr. and Pugsley Jr. The later two were portrayed as near carbon copies of the original children, now known as Wednesday Sr. and Pugsley Sr., who were once again played respectively by Lisa Loring and Ken Weatherwax, the original Wednesday and Pugsley in the series. Vic Mizzy rewrote and conducted his Addams Family Theme with a slightly different melody for the reunion movie. It was intended as a pilot for a new series, but no other episodes were ordered.[citation needed]

text: John Astin reprised his role as Gomez Addams for the 1992 animated adaptation of the series. No other members of the original cast were involved.

text: In 1998, a standalone film, Addams Family Reunion was shown on the Fox Family Channel, followed by The New Addams Family which ran on the same channel from 1998 to 2000 where some of the episodes are remakes of the classic episodes with some episodes exclusive to the TV series. John Astin appeared in the series as Grandpapa Addams.

text: Film adaptations[edit]

text: A successful film, The Addams Family, was released by Paramount Pictures in 1991, starring Raúl Juliá as Gomez, Anjelica Huston as Morticia, Christopher Lloyd as an amnesiac Uncle Fester, and Christina Ricci as Wednesday. After the film's release, David Levy filed a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures; the suit was settled out of court. A sequel, Addams Family Values, followed in 1993, to greater critical success than the first film, though it earned less at the box office.

text: DVD releases[edit]

text: As of May 2009, the show can be purchased on iTunes, and can be streamed in the US on Netflix, IMDb, YouTube, and Hulu, and minisodes are available on Crackle. MGM Home Entertainment has released The Addams Family on DVD in Region 1, 2 and 4 in three volume sets.

text:
DVD Name
Episodes
Release date
Additional information

Volume 1
22
August 10, 2006

Audio commentary for "The Addams Family Goes to School" by cast members Lisa Loring (Wednesday Addams), Ken Weatherwax (Pugsley Addams), and Felix Silla (Cousin Itt), along with Stephen Cox (author of The Addams Chronicles)
You Rang, Mr. Addams featurette
Snap, Snap featurette
Theme Song Karaoke
The DVD releases contain alterations to the episodes "Halloween with the Addams Family" and "The Addams Family Meets the Undercover Man". In two scenes, Morticia's song "It's So Nice to Have a 'Thing' Around the House" (to the tune of "It's So Nice to Have a Man Around the House") was cut. The edits were made because MGM/20th Century Fox could not obtain the rights to the original song.[7]

Volume 2
21
March 27, 2007

Mad About the Addams featurette: Experts discuss the history and impact of the show
Thing and Cousin Itt commentaries
Guest Star Séance interactive featurette: A magical crystal ball conjures guest star clips and trivia
Tombstone Trivia on "Morticia's Romance, Part 1" episode
Audio commentary with The Addams Chronicles author Stephen Cox

Volume 3
21
September 11, 2007[8]

Thing and Cousin Itt commentaries
Audio commentary with Stephen Cox, author of The Addams Chronicles
Tombstone Trivia on "Cat Addams" episode

The Complete Series
64
November 13, 2007[9]

Special "velvet-touch" package

tag: table


document_title: Third Amendment to the United States Constitution

question_text: what is one reason that the framers include the third amendment in the bill of rights

text: Text[edit]

text: The amendment as proposed by Congress in 1789 reads as follows:

text: No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.[5]

text: Background[edit]

text: In 1765, the British parliament enacted the first of the Quartering Acts,[6] requiring the American colonies to pay the costs of British soldiers serving in the colonies, and requiring that if the local barracks provided insufficient space, that the colonists lodge the troops in alehouses, inns, and livery stables. After the Boston Tea Party, the Quartering Act of 1774 was enacted. One of the Intolerable Acts that pushed the colonies toward revolution, it authorized British troops to be housed wherever necessary, including in private homes.[7] The quartering of troops was cited as one of the colonists' grievances in the United States Declaration of Independence.[3]

text: Adoption[edit]

text: After several years of comparatively weak government under the Articles of Confederation, a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia proposed a new constitution on September 17, 1787, featuring a stronger chief executive and other changes. George Mason, a Constitutional Convention delegate and the drafter of Virginia's Declaration of Rights, proposed that a bill of rights listing and guaranteeing civil liberties be included. Other delegates—including future Bill of Rights drafter James Madison—disagreed, arguing that existing state guarantees of civil liberties were sufficient and that any attempt to enumerate individual rights risked the implication that other, unnamed rights were unprotected. After a brief debate, Mason's proposal was defeated by a unanimous vote of the state delegations.[8]

text: For the constitution to be ratified, however, nine of the thirteen states were required to approve it in state conventions. Opposition to ratification ("Anti-Federalism") was partly based on the Constitution's lack of adequate guarantees for civil liberties. Supporters of the Constitution in states where popular sentiment was against ratification (including Virginia, Massachusetts, and New York) successfully proposed that their state conventions both ratify the Constitution and call for the addition of a bill of rights. Several state conventions specifically proposed a provision against the quartering of troops in private homes.[3] At the 1788 Virginia Ratifying Convention, Patrick Henry stated, "One of our first complaints, under the former government, was the quartering of troops among us. This was one of the principal reasons for dissolving the connection with Great Britain. Here we may have troops in time of peace. They may be billeted in any manner — to tyrannize, oppress, and crush us."[7]

text: Proposal and ratification[edit]

text: In the 1st United States Congress, following the state legislatures' request, James Madison proposed twenty constitutional amendments based on state bills of rights and English sources such as the Bill of Rights 1689; one of these was a prohibition against quartering troops in private homes. Several revisions to the future Third Amendment were proposed in Congress, which chiefly differed in the way in which peace and war were distinguished (including the possibility of a situation, such as unrest, which was neither peace nor war), and whether the executive or the legislature would have the authority to authorize quartering.[9] However, the amendment ultimately passed Congress almost unchanged and by unanimous vote.[3] Congress reduced Madison's proposed twenty amendments to twelve, and these were submitted to the states for ratification on September 25, 1789.[10]

text: By the time the Bill of Rights was submitted to the states for ratification, opinions had shifted in both parties. Many Federalists, who had previously opposed a Bill of Rights, now supported the Bill as a means of silencing the Anti-Federalists' most effective criticism. Many Anti-Federalists, in contrast, now opposed it, realizing that the Bill's adoption would greatly lessen the chances of a second constitutional convention, which they desired.[11] Anti-Federalists such as Richard Henry Lee also argued that the Bill left the most objectionable portions of the Constitution, such as the federal judiciary and direct taxation, intact.[12]

text: On November 20, 1789, New Jersey ratified eleven of the twelve amendments, rejecting Article II, which regulated Congressional pay raises. On December 19 and 22, respectively, Maryland and North Carolina ratified all twelve amendments.[13] On January 19, 25, and 28, 1790, respectively, South Carolina, New Hampshire, and Delaware ratified the Bill, though New Hampshire rejected the amendment on Congressional pay raises, and Delaware rejected Article I, which regulated the size of the House.[13] This brought the total of ratifying states to six of the required ten, but the process stalled in other states: Connecticut and Georgia found a Bill of Rights unnecessary and so refused to ratify, while Massachusetts ratified most of the amendments, but failed to send official notice to the Secretary of State that it had done so.[12][a]

text: In February through June 1790, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island ratified eleven of the amendments, though all three rejected the amendment on Congressional pay raises. Virginia initially postponed its debate, but after Vermont was admitted to the Union in 1791, the total number of states needed for ratification rose to eleven. Vermont ratified on November 3, 1791, approving all twelve amendments, and Virginia finally followed on December 15, 1791.[12] Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson announced the adoption of the ten successfully ratified amendments on March 1, 1792.[14]

text: Judicial interpretation[edit]

text: The Third Amendment is among the least cited sections of the U.S. Constitution.[15] In the words of Encyclopædia Britannica, "as the history of the country progressed with little conflict on American soil, the amendment has had little occasion to be invoked."[16] To date, no major Supreme Court decision has used the amendment as its primary basis.[3][4]

text: The Third Amendment has been invoked in a few instances as helping establish an implicit right to privacy in the Constitution.[17] Justice William O. Douglas used the amendment along with others in the Bill of Rights as a partial basis for the majority decision in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965),[18] which cited the Third Amendment as implying a belief that an individual's home should be free from agents of the state.[17]

text: In one of the seven opinions in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952), Justice Robert H. Jackson cited the Third Amendment as providing evidence of the Framers' intent to constrain executive power even during wartime:[17]

text: "[t]hat military powers of the Commander in Chief were not to supersede representative government of internal affairs seems obvious from the Constitution and from elementary American history. Time out of mind, and even now in many parts of the world, a military commander can seize private housing to shelter his troops. Not so, however, in the United States, for the Third Amendment says...[E]ven in war time, his seizure of needed military housing must be authorized by Congress."[19]

text: One of the few times a federal court was asked to invalidate a law or action on Third Amendment grounds was in Engblom v. Carey (1982).[20] In 1979, prison officials in New York organized a strike; they were evicted from their prison facility residences, which were reassigned to members of the National Guard who had temporarily taken their place as prison guards. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled: (1) that the term owner in the Third Amendment includes tenants (paralleling similar cases regarding the Fourth Amendment, governing search and seizure), (2) National Guard troops count as soldiers for the purposes of the Third Amendment, and (3) that the Third Amendment is incorporated (that is, that it applies to the states) by virtue of the Fourteenth Amendment.[21] The case was remanded to the district court, which dismissed the case on the grounds that state officials could not have been aware of this interpretation.[22]

text: In the most recent Third Amendment decision handed down by a federal court, on February 2, 2015, the United States District Court for the District of Nevada held in Mitchell v. City of Henderson that the Third Amendment does not apply to intrusions by municipal police officers since they are not soldiers.[23]

text: In an earlier case, United States v. Valenzuela (1951),[24] the defendant asked that a federal rent-control law be struck down because it was "the incubator and hatchery of swarms of bureaucrats to be quartered as storm troopers upon the people in violation of Amendment III of the United States Constitution."[25] The court declined his request. Later, in Jones v. United States Secretary of Defense (1972),[26] Army reservists unsuccessfully cited the Third Amendment as justification for refusing to march in a parade. Similar arguments in a variety of contexts have been denied in other cases.[27]